Mixing device.



F. H. HILLIARD.

MIXING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 30, 1912,

Patented Apr. 8

Q vi tne/aoeo UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIoE.

ros'rnn H. HIIQLIARD, or mnmrnrs, Tennessee.

MIXING DEVICE.

skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to a mixing device for conveyer conduits and is particularly adapted for use in pipe line dredges to hold the solid material in suspension in the liquid,

In excavating heavy material, such as sand and gravel, or a mixture of-both, by means of a pipe line dredge the proportion of solid materialto water that can be transported through the pipe line is limited by the settling of the solid material to the bottom 'of the pipe. When carrying small proportions of sand (up to 12 per cent.) the same is carried through the pipe in spite of settling. However, when the percentage is higher the settling results in an accumulation of sand in the pipe which eventually stops the flow entirely. In order to overcome this accumulation it is necessary, at stated intervals in the length ofthe pipe, to maintain the mixture as uniform as possible during the flow, and this I do by raising the sand from the bottom'to the top of the pipe.

The object of my invention is to maintain a mixture of the solid material with the liquid so that it may be borne along with 1 the current without undue friction against the bottom of the pipe.

The invention consists in providing a conduit or pipe with a fixed diaphragm or plate, having a warped surface, the front edge of which coincides with the horizontal diameter of the pipe while the surfaces of.

. said diaphragm gradually deviate from the plane of the edge until the horizontal diameter is again reached and extended in the plane of the axis of the conduit for a distance suflicient to overcome the swirling ac tion imparted to the material by the spiral formation of the diaphragm.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 8, 191 3.

Application filed October 30, 1912. Serial No.,78,814.1.

In the accompanying drawing: Figure 1 1s a d agrammatic view of a pipe-line dredge having my improved mixer applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a partial longitudinal vertical. section of one formof mixer. Fig. 3 is a. similar vlew of a modified form. Fig. 4:"is an end view of Fig. 2 looking in the direction 4 of the arrows, and Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section on the line 5--5 of Fig. 2.

1 Referrmg to said drawing, A designates the hull of the dredge which carries a cen-' trifugal dredging pump 3 of well known construction for sucking the dirt and water through a suction pipe C and discharging it through the discharge pipe D which is made up of a plurality of detachable pipe sections and supported in the usual manner on a plurality of pontoons E.

' The mixer preferably comprises two sections 1 and 2 of pipe shorter in length but of the same diameter as the sections of the suction and discharge pipes so that the mixer sections may be interposed between any two sections of said pipes. The section 1 contains a plate or diaphragm 3 the diameter of which coincides throughout its length with the diameterof .said section, the

front edge 4 of the plate coinciding with the horizontal diameter of the section to d1v1de the latter into upper and lower halves. The surfaces of the plate gradu- 180 degrees. Section 2 of the mixer contains a straight plate or diaphragm 6 mounted therein to coincide with the horizontal diameter of the section and is adapted to form a continuation of the rear horizontal portion of the warped diaphragm 3.

Experience has shown that good results are attained by making the diaphragm 3 about five times the length of the diameter of the section and the diaphragm'G, about three times the diameter ofthe section. It is preferable to form the diaphragms, in separate pipe sectionof the same length as the diaphragms as sometimes the standard section for the pipe line will be'found irre'gular and a perfect fittin of the parts will insure better results. is is particufarly true of "the warped diaphragm as the straight diaphragm may with imfpunity be inserted in a standard section, 0 the pipe line, which connects with the section containing the warped diaphragm.

Instead of making the mixer as above described both the warped and straight diaphragm may be formed of one piece as shown in Fig. 3 and this one piece may either be fitted in a single section of pipe of the same length, or the piece may be insertedl in an standard section. The diaphragmdivi es the contents of the pipe into upper and lower portions. The lower portion ofthe contents. is rich in solid material and the upper portion is principally water. 'After se arating the solid matter from the water, t e function of the warped ered, the horizontal section or extension 6 of the mixer is added to the rear end 'of'the diaphragm 3. On emerging from the rear end of the diaphragm 6 the solid material graduall flow as it does so. t another point where r the conditions, similar to those described above, result again, another mixer is necessar and the elevation of the solid matenal is repeated. The'number of mixers required in any given pipe will depend on the-length of the pipe line and the percentage of solid material carried, Ex rience has shown that with a 24 inch pipe carrying 30 per cent. sand, the mixers should be spaced about 150 .feet apart. The percentage of sand, possible with a 24 inch dredge, will be increased from 12 to 30 per gravitates to the bottom of the pipe again, advancin in the direction of the- 3. A conduit having a diaphragm fixed therein coinciding with the diameter of the conduit, said diaphragm having horizontal front and rear ends and being warped between said ends through 180 degrees, and a straight portion forming an extension of said rear end to overcome the swirling motion imparted to the contents of the conduit by said warped portion.

4. A pipe, a plate fixed therein of a width substantially equal to the diameter of the pipe and of a length five times said diameter,'said plate being warped 180 degrees between its front and rear ends and a straight plate coinciding with. the rear e'nd of the warped plate to overcome the swirling motion imparted to the contents of the pipe by the warped portion of the plate.

- 5. In a pipe line dredge, the combination with a suction or discharge pipe, of a mixer mounted therein comprising a plate having its front edge coinciding with the horizontal diameter of the pipe, and having a rear portion warped through 180 degrees, and a straight plate mounted in said pipe paral-.

lel to the longitudinal axis of the latter and forming a continuation of the warped portion. Y

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FOSTER H. HILLIARD.

Witnesses? O. M. NORFLEET, C. L. JONES. 

